PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS PRACTICES AND EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY IN KENYA: A CASE STUDY OF SAVANNAH CEMENT LTD
Benardine Kithia Munguti - Management University of Africa, Kenya
David Kanyanjua - Management University of Africa, Kenya
ABSTRACT
Many organizations are struggling with the fact that many of their employees’ productivity is wanting and therefore these organizations are looking for measures that can aid in improving their employees productivity. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effects of performance appraisal practices on employee productivity at Savannah Cement Ltd. The specific objectives of the study were: To assess the effects of peer review on employee productivity at Savannah Cement Ltd and to establish the effects of 360 degrees appraisal method on employee productivity at Savannah Cement Ltd. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The population of interest for this study was three hundred and thirty two (332) employees of Savannah Cement Company limited. The population was stratified as per the departments and a representative sample of 98 respondents was selected through simple random sampling technique. The study primary data was a questionnaire. The collected data was compiled, sorted, edited, coded and analyzed to address the research objectives. Descriptive analysis was computed where mean, frequencies and percentages were obtained and Regression analysis was used to test for the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable. The findings from the analysis showed the effect that the performance appraisal practices had on employee productivity. These study results were presented in tables and figures using percentages and frequencies to facilitate comparisons and further analysis. The study found that the performance appraisal process was fair and targets had been set for all the staff to ensure the process achieved its objective in evaluating individual employee’s performance, 360- Degree performance appraisal is used in Savannah Cement Ltd to enhance individual employee’s work performance thus bringing about improvement in quality and accuracy of work, job knowledge, ability to work as team members and quantity in output. The study concluded that the management at Savannah Cement Company had adopted performance appraisal practices that aided in providing opportunities to identifying staff training needs, help employee’s meet performance targets and 360 degree appraisal method was widely adopted in Savannah Cement Ltd. The study recommends that the company should endeavor to use subordinates more often as a source of evaluation so that managers can be able to get feedback from their juniors regarding their performance and adopt performance appraisal process that does not only emphasize on academic qualifications but rather ability to achieving targets.